With new head coach Carla Tagliente, UMass field hockey looks to continue its winning ways

Alesha Widdall is the most talented goalkeepr new coach Carla Tagliente has ever coached.

It's one thing to take over as head coach of an atrocious team where a change was needed, the old coach fired, and the players ecstatic at the sight of any new face.

But it’s another to waltz into a locker room of a squad that is already successful and together after the former coach has left for greener pastures.

So new University of Massachusetts field hockey head coach Carla Tagliente has a tough act to follow.

The Minutewomen were 15-8 overall last season, and undefeated in Atlantic-10 play at 7-0. They put together an 11-game winning streak, including victories over host Temple and Lock Haven to capture their third conference title in four years. Head coach Justine Sowry left for Louisville, and Tagliente has a tough act to follow. It all starts Saturday with a 3 p.m. game against Boston College at the University of Vermont. The Minutewomen then face the host Catamounts Monday, a game moved from Sunday because of the hurricane.

“I’ve been with programs with both situations,” Tagliente said of taking over both winning and losing teams. “Some of it is similar. It’s still transition, it’s still an element of building trust, even when it’s been a losing team.”

Sowry’s teams were especially defensive-minded, and while Tagliente acknowledges that she has a bias to offense because that was her forte as a player, she knows that ignoring the defensive aspect of the game prevents wins.

A 2001 Summa Cum Laude graduate of national field hockey power Maryland, Tagliente held the school record for goals (87) and points (187) until 2010. She was a three-time first team All-American, and helped Maryland to the 1999 national championship in the final over Michigan. She played seven years for the USA field hockey national team, and in 2010 was named coach of the USA Field Hockey U-19 team. She spent eight years coaching in the Big Ten, joining UMass after serving as the associate head coach at Northwestern for two years.

While improving the upside of the offense, which is where Tagliente sees the biggest opportunity, there is enormous comfort about the goals against being held down with senior All-American Alesha Widdall in goal. Widdall posted eight shutouts and recorded 97 saves last year.

“I’ve never had a goalkeeper this talented, so I’m enjoying watching her. It seems like every team there are one or two players where you just shake your head some days. You can’t put into words what she means to this team both on and off the field.”

UMass graduated three top players from last year’s team in Makela Potts (first-team All-American, Katie Kelly (team’s leadinig scorer), and top defender Jaime Bourazeris.

Recruiting is always an issue when you first become head coach as players recruited by the former coach follow her. That happened with two players who had committed to UMass, and are headed to Louisville. But one stayed, Renee Suter, a midfielder from Millersville, Pa., and Tagliente says “she’s going to be a great player.” Suter competed at Penn Manor, one of the most highly regarded high school programs in the country. Tagliente then added three more of her own recruits.

Overall, Tagliente feels there is depth on the bench, people who can play, not just numbers. And she feels that continuing to build strong rotations is ultimately good for the long-term success of the program. The challenge this year will be up front where the team is working on its posession and finishing skills when it gets close to the goal. But improving offense is the strength of the new coach, who hopes someday to be a tough act to follow as well.